From romantic wilderness to soul landscapesThe exhibition largely presents the chronological development in landscape painting from the magnificent and romantic wilderness of nature of the 1840s, through the more registering, realistic approach, to the more evocative, introverted and subjective soul landscapes of the turn of the century.

"What is in fact a landscape? How extensive does a portion of the earth’s surface have to be, and of what must it be composed, to be thus described? Does landscape actually exist, other than as an idea in the mind of the beholder and a product of our emotions?""What is it that creates the need to represent landscape in art, and what happens to it when it is depicted?"Art historian, Torsten Gunnarsson.

Landscape Painting and the NorthThe landscape in art has a long history, but as an independent theme in Nordic art it only became significant around 1800 when nature and naturalness was ascribed greater importance.

For the Nordic countries landscape painting gained particular symbolic value as the countries searched for a national identity. At the same time, landscape painting in the North was also open to influences from the rest of Europe, and it developed in the tension between the national and international.

"Time and place, language, temperament, national and social identity, and the history of art, among several other factors, moderate the act of painting."Art historian, Janne Gallen-Kallela-Sirén.

About the exhibitionThe exhibitions is a collaboration between Statens Museum for Kunst og the Nordic national galleries in Helsinki, Stockholm and Oslo and The Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

About the exhibitionThe exhibitions is a collaboration between Statens Museum for Kunst og the Nordic national galleries in Helsinki, Stockholm and Oslo and The Minneapolis Institute of Arts.